


Confessions

by artikgato



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Except Yosuke, Love Confessions, M/M, Unrequited Crush, everybody confesses to souji, souyoweek2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 17:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7181489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rise was, as to be expected, the first one to confess. In true Rise fashion she didn't skirt around the issue, didn't try to be coy or subtle about it, and didn't waste time getting around to it, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confessions

**Author's Note:**

> A quick one-shot for Souyo Week 2016, Day 1. The theme was "confessions" so I naturally decided to write everybody confessing to Souji. Of course because this is me writing it, it obviously ends up Souyo.

Rise was, as to be expected, the first one to confess. In true Rise fashion she didn't skirt around the issue, didn't try to be coy or subtle about it, and didn't waste time getting around to it, either. It hadn't even been two months since they rescued her from her dungeon, and she cornered him one day on the roof with a sweet smile and absolutely no hint of nervousness.

"Sempai~" she practically sang, batting her eyelashes at him and aiming her most winning smile at him. "You know I like you, right? I mean romantically, of course."

"Y-yes, I am aware," Souji replied, because even if he was the picture of calm, collected efficiency on the battlefield and a natural charmer to everyone he met, this was new territory for him. How was he supposed to tell Rise that she was perfect and amazing and just absolutely not his type? Without hurting her feelings?

"Sooo then, do you have something to say to me?" she prompted, her smile not faltering one bit. She was a true professional - if she was nervous, or worried about his response at all it didn't show. Either she was a flawless actress or the mere concept that he might refuse had never even occurred to her.

"...I'm sorry," he finally responded. To his astonishment, her smile didn't immediately drop into a frown, she didn't immediately start bawling or complaining or declare that she hated him, like the last few girls he had rejected. Her smile turned a touch melancholic, her eyes softened a little, and she gave a little, knowing sigh.

"I thought as much," she said. "But hey, you can't blame a girl for trying, right? So, is it someone else you have your eye on?"

"It's...I...you just...you just aren't my type, Rise," he finally managed to explain, and she somehow managed to make her smile sharp at that.

"So a mega-cute idol with a perfect body isn't your type, hmm? What _is_ your type then, sempai?" she asked, with a little laugh. He found himself laughing too.

"When you put it like that I certainly seem like an idiot for rejecting you," he pointed out, chuckling.

"Oh, you definitely _are_ ," she admonished, with a wink. "Now, since you so rudely rejected me, the least you can do is tell me who you like instead. And don't," she interrupted when he tried to protest that no, he didn't like _anybody_ she knew, honestly, "try to tell me you don't have your eye on anyone. I have my suspicions, Sempai."

He sighed. She had him dead to rights.

"If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it a secret," he finally admitted defeat, and the way she squealed almost made him regret saying that. But if there was one thing Rise could be counted on it was keeping secrets, after all.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "Now who is it?!"

"Well," he started, taking a deep breath, already feeling his cheeks heat up. "It's..." 

* * *

To Souji's great surprise, Chie was the second to confess.

Not that it didn't fit with her gung-ho personality or anything - this _was_ the same person that charged headfirst into Yukiko's castle without so much as a plan or any idea of what she'd be up against - but it still surprised him. Mainly because unlike with Rise, he had _no_ idea she'd had any sort of attraction to him at all.

The way she'd gone about it had been really cute, too. One day when they were training on the riverbank, she'd just blurted out "I like you!" without any sort of warning. It had been after a really long, really difficult workout, the kind that left your muscles sore in a really good, satisfying way. He'd been drinking some water, and had spat it right back out on the grass when she'd suddenly blurted out her confession.

"I'm sorry, what?" he managed to choke out. She looked panicked, alarmed, concerned and frustrated all at once, and the way she was blushing was just so _adorable_. It was honestly a shame that she wasn't his type.

"Y-you heard me, you jerk! You know what, never mind, forget I said anything, I'm gonna go run a few laps around the-"

"Wait, wait," he interrupted her, having to catch her by one of her wrists to keep her from actually sprinting off toward the river. "Sorry, that was just kind of...sudden, you know?" When she didn't respond with more than a glare, he sighed. "And...listen, Chie, I appreciate that you had the courage to tell me that, and I'm touched that you like me, but I just-"

"You don't like me, I get it," she grumbled. "I mean, why would you? You rejected _Rise_ after all, why would you like plain ol' me if you didn't like her?"

"...what? That's not...that's got nothing to do with it, Chie," Souji protested. He let go of her wrist to lift both of his hands up defensively, palms outward. "You and Rise are both great. There are plenty of things to like about you, you know, and anyone would be lucky to have you...but you just aren't my type."

"What does _that_ mean?" Chie asked, so baffled that she couldn't even pretend to be offended.

"I just...I really like you as a friend. Maybe there's some other universe where I could like you as more than a friend, but-" Souji tried to explain, but she interrupted with a gasp.

"You like someone else! Who is it? Wait, it's not Yukiko is it?" she accused.

"What? No, no," he replied.

"It _isn't_? But-but she's _Yukiko_! Have you _seen_ her? Who in the world _do_ you like, then?" she demanded.

"I'd...rather not say," Souji answered after a few seconds of enduring her demanding glare. When she frowned at him, he quickly added, "There's such a small chance of anything happening anyway, so..."

"...okay, now I _have_ to know," Chie concluded. "You can't leave me hanging like this! I'm too curious!"

Souji sighed, swallowed nervously, and then sighed again. He was pretty much defeated.

"Okay, but please keep this to yourself. The person I like is-"

* * *

Unsurprisingly, Yukiko was the next to confess. Equally unsurprisingly, it was via a letter left in his locker. The note was meticulously folded and, while anonymous, it didn't take a lot of deductive reasoning to conclude that the flawlessly elegant writing belonged to her. He decided not to confront her directly about it, for fear of embarrassing her, and instead answered her in the same way - with a letter. A short, but simple letter apologizing for his evidently terrible taste in romantic prospects, assuring her that she was great and it had nothing to do with her and laying all the blame on himself. The next day she looked a little embarrassed when he met her eyes, very briefly, but neither of them brought up the letters, and the incident passed without any sort of conflict at all.

* * *

To Souji's total and utter shock, the next person to confess was _Kanji_.

To say that Souji was totally blindsided was a complete understatement. Yes Kanji's Shadow had been...well, Kanji's Shadow, but Souji knew that Kanji was simply afraid of being mocked by women, not actually _gay_. Or at least, he'd _thought_ Kanji wasn't gay.

"I...what?" Souji responded with all the suaveness of a dead fish.

"D-do I gotta repeat it? I...look, I'm still all confused, y'know? I figure I should make sure I _don't_ like guys before I can rule that out and...w-well, out'a all the guys I know you're the one I could see myself liking the most, so I just thought..."

"So you don't _actually_ like me, then? You just _think_ you could?" Souji asked, and if he sounded a little desperate to get out of the situation, he hoped Kanji didn't notice.

He did. He definitely did.

"Well yeah, that's what I said, I guess, but that ain't exactly _right_. I mean, I respect you a lot, sempai, and you're really nice and brave and...uh...r-really good looking...s-so, uh..." Kanji rambled, sounding more and more harried.

Well. If not gay, Kanji was at least bisexual. This new information, while enlightening, wasn't exactly _helpful_. But Souji needed let him down gently.

"W-well, thank you, Kanji, I really appreciate that, but I'm not-" he started.

"Gay?" Kanji asked.

"-interested in you that way," Souji finished.

"So, not gay then," Kanji replied.

"I never said that," Souji corrected him, before he had the chance to think about what he was saying. Kanji's eyes got huge, and Souji backpedaled.

"No, no wait, what I meant was, my sexual orientation has _nothing_ to do with this, Kanji, honestly. You are a great guy, you really, _really_ are, but you just aren't my type," Souji explained. Kanji stared at him dumbfounded. "And for the record, it's pretty likely that you're bisexual."

"W-w-wh-what? Why would you...what makes you think...?" Kanji sputtered.

"You just told me I'm good looking, and I've seen the way you look at Naoto sometimes," Souji replied. Kanji sputtered again.

* * *

The most surprising thing about Teddie's confession was how long it took for it to happen. The fact that he hadn't been the first or second member of the Investigation Team to confess was the shocking thing, here. Teddie's open fondness for "sensei" and the fact that he wasn't shy about declaring his love for basically anybody of any gender were endearing traits, but Souji couldn't see him as any more than a younger sibling. Apparently, Teddie had been expecting that, too, because he didn't even blink when Souji rejected him.

"I thought so," the bear said in response. "We're both too popular with the ladies anyway, sensei! It would be some kind of crime to keep us from them!"

If only Teddie knew, Souji thought, with a chuckle.

* * *

Naoto, in true Naoto fashion, didn't really even confess.

"I just wanted to let you know that I've developed some kind of feelings of attraction for you, and have no intention of ever pursuing them," she informed him, all business, no blushing or stammering. When all he could do was nod, dumbfounded, she continued. "Also, after some careful deduction, I have figured out that you have a crush on Yosuke-sempai."

Souji was normally a man of few words, but he was very rarely left speechless.

"Call it a detective's intuition, but I believe you would have a significantly good chance of success if you were to pursue him. I'll be taking my leave now."

All he could do was watch her walk away with his jaw practically on the floor. Well, she _was_ a very skilled detective, but to think she had caught on to something that Souji had been trying so desperately to keep a secret...

* * *

In the end, it was Souji that confessed to Yosuke. It had certainly taken him a while to work up the nerve to do it, though, and more than once he'd been deterred by thoughts that maybe, if he waited patiently enough, Yosuke would confess instead. The rest of the Investigation Team had, so why not him too?

It could have gone amazingly, spectacularly wrong. Even though Naoto had given him her vote of confidence (and Rise, and Chie, and Teddie had too) he was still worried. Try as he might, he couldn't help remembering everything Yosuke had ever said about Kanji's Shadow, all of the looks of disgust, the panicking when Souji had "jokingly" chosen him as his boyfriend during the Group Date Café, the way Yosuke had hated every second of the "Miss" Yasogami pageant...

But somehow, miraculously, it didn't go wrong. Yosuke certainly did panic and flail, and blushed so hard Souji was worried about him fainting, but he didn't reject Souji. No, not at all.

"P-partner, I, you, I can't believe...I mean, you..."

Listening to him stammer his way through his surprise was the hardest thing _ever_ for Souji to do. He wanted to take him by the shoulders, shake him, and demand an answer out of him, but instead he bit his lip, tried to make sure his hands weren't shaking _too_ much, and watched Yosuke go through the stages of shock.

"You...you aren't kidding, right? This isn't some kind of weird joke?" Yosuke finally asked, his voice small and uncertain. Souji shook his head furiously, not quite having the courage to actually say anything at the moment. Yosuke took a deep breath in response. "Okay...okay. Fuck if I know why you like _me_ of all people but, Partner I... I like you too. A lot, okay?"

"...really?" Souji finally managed to ask.

"Duh!" Yosuke huffed in response. Souji's dumbfounded expression turned into a smile.

"I'm glad," he said. "So then, will you go out with me?"

"D-dumbass," Yosuke muttered, somehow managing to turn even _more_ red. "Of course I will."


End file.
